Page 19 of Marked Resistance

“You mean, you’re unfamiliar with them. Xavier and Ilanis have been working together. You don’t know if you can trustthemwithyourlife yet.”

Grim crossed his hands and rested them on the hilt of his sword at his waist. He lifted his chin slightly and studied Xavier. “And you agreed with this call, brother?”

“We’re standing here, aren’t we?” Ilanis said.

“Huh. I take it you disagree?” Grim inquired of Ilanis.

Ilanis focused her attention on me as she spoke. “Where Xavier goes, I go. Simple as that. He’s the extension of Command. They tell him and he tells us. He leads,wefollow. Nothing else needs to be discussed.”

Grim nodded and chuckled. “Well said, Doll face. Well said.

Ilanis raised an eyebrow. “Did you just call me what I thought I heard you call me?”

Grim shrugged. “I have an affection for ancient human vernacular. What can I say?”

Xavier and Ilanis stared at him with partly opened lips.

“Oi, fuckyou. I’m not stupid. I have a vocabulary. Anyway, what now, Boss vamp?”

“Now,” Xavier answered. “We head north. We have less than sixty hours to bring down this deserter.”

“Let’s hunt,” Grim declared with a huge smile.

Chapter nine

Grim led us back across the clearing and into the forest. “Oi, what is that smell?”

I lifted my chin and breathed deep. The warm, earthy scent of the woods wafted through my nostrils and gifted me with a reassuring feeling, but nothing else. “I don’t smell anything out of the ordinary.”

Grim sniffed again and his face scrunched up. “No, no. I’ve smelled this before. It’s rancid. Putrid.”

“What are you smelling?” Ilanis asked.

The three of us stopped and started to inspect the air with our noses. Xavier stopped and cocked his head to the side, his hands resting on the sword at his hip, his lips in a straight line.

“Oi, I know what it is,” Grim remarked after a few moments of us sniffing and searching the area.

“What?” I asked.

“That horrible smell is Xavier’s cologne,” Grim joked and followed with a deep laugh.

Xavier didn’t miss a beat. “It’s a poor attempt to be like you, my friend. You’re all man, I just wanted to try to measure up. Though, you're not half the man your mother is.”

My hands covered my mouth to hold the laughter. I squeezed my eyes shut and my cheeks ached from the strain.

“Oi, that’s not funny.”

“Then, stop wasting time and let’s get going,” Xavier responded with the authority of a commander.

Ilanis and I looked at Grim whose face turned a deep purple. He pivoted on his heels and we resumed our journey through the woods and back to our travel vehicle.

Grim led, with Ilanis following as a close second. I trailed her and Xavier brought up the rear. We traveled in a single line under the moonlight, until I slowed my pace and fell back. Grim and Ilanis continued, but I pulled even with Xavier. The distance between the two pairs grew with every step. Grim and Ilanis could handle themselves, and we weren’t far enough behind to not respond if any danger presented itself, but I needed to take this opportunity.

“Xavier…”

“Zenobia,” he answered. His eyes remained set straight ahead even as I walked beside him.

“Listen, I want to apologize. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that earlier. You didn’t deserve it. Please call me Zee.”

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